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Chapter 5 M1LPARINKA TOWNSHIP COMMERCE AND SERVICES
5.0. Introduction
This chapter commences by tracing the history of selected commercial
enterprises at Milparinka until approximately 1916. That history is followed
by a discussion of the water supply, the town common, and the history of
attempts to establish or maintain selected community facilities, and then by
a review of the role of the New South Wales police and post office. By
1916 the township had been established for thirty-five years. In the interim
the Commonwealth of Australia had been established, removing many of
the controls over trade between the former colonies of New South Wales,
South Australia and Queensland. The mining city of Broken Hill had also
become established, linked by rail with Adelaide and eclipsing Wilcannia
as a transhipment centre, and the advent of motor cars and lorries had
commenced the process of eliminating the coaching networks and their
associated infrastructure. I am satisfied these factors all had a bearing
upon the ultimate fate of Milparinka, but that for my purposes their impact
was in the future. Also of significance by 1916 was the impact of World
War I, but again the loss of manpower and the inability of the community to
attract replacement labour had not yet realised its full effect.
On the basis of the information presented I will suggest that the business
climate at Milparinka was unstable from the start, perhaps typical of a
goldfield township, and that rivalries within the community produced
divisions which exacerbated the situation. The problems of water supply
which had been instrumental in the establishment of Milparinka continued
throughout, with a significant part of the water supply and the supply of
vegetables and fruit in the hands of the Chinese who are central to my
research. I will develop my discussion of their monopolies in a later
chapter.
By 1916 the town was already in decline for reasons other than the
technological and social changes which were about to seal its fate. My
research into the transport infrastructure suggests that a charabanc
replaced coaches on the routes connecting Milparinka with the rail head at
Cobar in 1916, and because of the potential for change which this
represented 1916 appears to be a turning point from which Milparinka was
incapable of recovery. Accordingly I have chosen 1916 as an appropriate
point at which to terminate this particular research.
Map 7 shows the location of various structures identified in the following
paragraphs. It is overlaid on a part of the surveyed plan of the town, as
means of appreciating the extent of development. Other structures shown
on the map were identified from oral history sources and from a survey of
the township site completed in 1988 and 1989. Since that survey
considerable change has been inflicted by the construction of a kangarooshooter's
camp, various "restoration" projects and the effects of increasing
tourist numbers.